Error In Tableau Prep: There Was A Problem Opening The Flow File. There Might Be A Problem With The File Path, File Extension Or The Data May Be Corrupt.

Issue

The error occurs upon opening the flow file:

There was a problem opening the flow file. There might be a problem with the file path, file extension or the data may be corrupt.

Environment

Tableau Prep Builder 2020.1.3
Windows 10
Box

Resolution

Option 1

Instead of using drive letter mappings in Box, use UNC paths that do not include the : character.

Option 2

Transfer flows that use flat files as inputs using Packaged Flows (.tflx), so that there is no need for drive mapping and paths that may cause issues.

Cause

When a flow is transferred from a computer that is using Box to map to a drive file path (c:\, d:\ etc) for an input to another computer and attempted to be opened on a computer not using Box. Drive letter mappings from Box contain the ":" character, which is an illegal character